Wadham out of the Dark
Lucy Wadham has a lot to thank The Dark Lord for during the last few years and the veteran came up trumps when he was most needed at Fakenham.
A really classy handicap hurdler three seasons ago, The Dark Lord has never been quite as good over fences but although he was not exactly fluent over the last in the At The Races Handicap Chase, the 11-year-old was far enough clear to give Dominic Elsworth an easy winner on his only ride of the day.
Newmarket-based Wadham said: “We have a lot of coughing in the yard at the moment so we couldn’t be that confident, but thankfully he hasn’t been affected.
“The two front-runners (Follow Your Heart and Pasagai) possibly cut each others throats in front as our horse needs every yard of three miles. He could go for a four-miler at Doncaster now.”
Denis O’Regan ensured he will never forget his first experience of Fakenham by collecting a 14-day ban for riding a finish a circuit too early in the Weatherbys Bloodstock Insurance Beginners’ Chase.
Aboard the Henrietta Knight-trained Harringay, O’Regan kicked into a clear lead approaching what he thought was the last obstacle and did not appear to notice the lack of effort from other riders as he passed the post too late to make the fence in front of the stands.
While Knight and Timmy Murphy successfully overturned penalties at appeal two years ago when accused of the tender running and riding of Harringay in a novice hurdle, there were no excuses here.
“He’s absolutely devastated, but it’s just one of those things,” reflected Knight.
“He did know there were three circuits as we were talking about it in the paddock before, but there’s no point getting angry about it. He’s paid the price anyway.
“The one thing I would say is that they really should doll off the finishing line until the final circuit, like they do at some other tracks, and then it would never happen again.”
Slightly ironically, this left a simple task for Murphy on the Nick Gifford-trained 13-8 favourite Cathedral Rock, who cruised home a distance clear of Shouldhavehadthat.
Nicky Henderson and Mick Fitzgerald certainly know the tight Norfolk circuit rather better than O’Regan and combined twice.
Working Title (11-8)took the Fakenham “National Hunt” Novices’ Hurdle by 25 lengths, while Gold Award (4-7 favourite) made an impressive introduction in the Great Fransham Standard Open National Hunt Flat Race.
Fitzgerald enjoyed a treble by teaming up with Brendan Powell’s Fondness (17-2) in the East Dereham Handicap Hurdle.
There was an exciting finish to the Norfolk Arc Novices’ Chase when 11-8 favourite Helen Wood, who looked to have mastered Gods Token (3-1), got dreadfully tired before the last and handed the race back to her Sam Thomas-ridden rival.
Don Cantillon took the King’s Lynn Maiden Hurdle with La Estrella (8-1).
